Hardbound
2000 · Chicago/New Haven
by Groom, Gloria et al.
Chicago/New Haven: The Art Institute of Chicago / Yale University Press, 2000. Hardbound. VG+/VG- (wear to corner block edges, slight foxing to dustjacket interior). Gold cloth with tan lettering on spine, green, color-illustrated wraps. xiii, 289 pp. 292 illustrations, including 178 color and 114 halftones. Catalog of an exhibition held at the Art Institute of Chicago, Feb. 25-May 16, 2001 and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, June 26-Sept. 9, 2001. "The Contributions of Artists Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard, Maurice Denis, and Ker Xavier Roussel to the French avant-garde of the 1890s, as members of the Nabis, are widely recognized. What is less known about these artists' careers is their extraordinary work in decorative painting - work on a large or unusual scale for private interiors. This illustrated book focuses on the many decorative works carried out by the four artists between 1890 and 1930. During these years, they moved beyond the narrow parameters of easel painting and applied their wholly untraditional aesthetic of decoration to a wide range of works for domestic interiors, from wall-size ensembles to folding screens. The cosmopolitan group of patrons who made this work possible ranged from the avant-garde circle of La Revue Blanche to prominent members of the French establishment. An examination of their role and tastes is another fascinating feature of this publication." "The book and accompanying exhibition reunite paintings that have long been dispersed, introducing contemporary viewers to a group of bold and evocative works, which had a wide-ranging, though little-recognized, influence on modern art. As the book's authors argue, the aesthetic embodied by these works indeed helped set the stage for the large, non-narrative paintings by artists as diverse as Rothko and Lichtenstein that came to dominate the avant-garde after World War II."--Jacket.
(Inventory #: 105396)